Review for Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty

3.5 Stars. Well written, but wanted more suspense. The pacing of this book is rather slow and it goes over a lot of the day to day lives of three Moms and their kindergarten age children. The mystery was interesting. The book opens with a murder, and as you read you find yourself trying to figure out not only who the killer is, but who was murdered. My issue with the book was that I wanted the clues to come quicker. It felt like I had to read through a lot of kindergarten drama before I came across another hook.

Despite the slower pace, what kept me reading were the characters. I did really care about them. Every character in this book, especially Jane, Madeline, and Celeste has a secret and as the story unfolds you get pieces of their secrets until finally, at the end, everything is revealed and you see how in many ways their secrets tie them together.

While I enjoyed the perspective of following multiple characters, I felt like the story was missing something without having a main lead. For most of the book, it felt like Jane was the most central of the three women. But, at the end, the resolution made it feel like this was more Celeste’s story. I wish there would have been more of a focus on one or the other.

Overall, I liked seeing these women, who were all going through different things in their lives, bond and form friendships. This became a major theme in the book that’s reinforced at the story’s conclusion. It was an enjoyable read.